UK: Wife of Muslim convert jailed for jihad terrorism admits she failed to provide information which could have led to his arrest

You’d have thought that she would have been alarmed as Richard gravitated toward the Tiny Minority of Extremists. You’d have thought she’d have hurried down to the local mosque and enrolled him in the classes that teach Muslims why the al-Qaeda understanding of Islam is wrong (oh, wait, there aren’t any such classes). You’d have thought she’d have picked up the phone and called the police. You’d have thought wrong on all counts.

But don’t be concerned: the people who would have spoken out against these things are safely banned from Britain.

Please contribute to our legal fund to overturn the unjust ban on Pamela Geller and me entering the UK here.

“Wife of Muslim convert jailed for terrorism admits she failed to provide information which could have led to his arrest,” by Steve Robson for the Daily Mail, July 5:

The wife of white Muslim convert Richard Dart who was jailed for terrorism offences has admitted failing to provide information that might have helped police arrest and prosecute him.

Ayan Hadi, 31, pleaded guilty to the offence at the Old Bailey today.

Her husband Richard Dart was jailed for six years in April with two co-conspirators Jahangir Alom and Imran Mahmood for planning acts of terrorism.

Hadi was also arrested and charged at the time for failing to disclose information which might have led to his prosecution.

But she was pregnant during her first appearance at court and her lawyer said any trial hearing would have to take her due date into account.

Dart’s brother Robb Leech, who first brought the convert’s views into the spotlight in his television documentary My Brother The Islamist, revealed that Hadi gave birth to a baby girl weeks before he was sentenced.

Writing in The Times, Mr Leech said: ‘While he was in custody before the trial, Rich’s new wife gave birth to a daughter, 12 weeks early.

‘Now healthy with a life full of possibilities ahead of her, she will need a father and someone to guide her through the world. My only hope is that when Rich gets out, his little daughter will be his calling.’

Today Hadi, from Acton, west London, pleaded guilty to withholding information about her husband and will be sentenced on August 16.

Mr Justice Sweeney warned that she could also be jailed.

He told her: ‘All sentencing options remain firmly open.’

Former BBC security guard Dart refused to stand when he was sentenced in April, saying: ‘I don’t wish to stand up. I believe ruling and judging is only for Allah.’

The court heard that Dart and Alom travelled to Pakistan to try to get terrorist training, and took advice from Mahmood, who had already visited the country.

Dart, a son of teachers, also discussed bomb-making with Mahmood, and military repatriation town Wootton Bassett as a potential target.

Police discovered fragments of text on his laptop that revealed that the pair had used the computer to have a ‘silent conversation’ to avoid possible surveillance bugs – opening a Word document and taking it in turns to type, then deleting the text.

They mistakenly assumed none of it would be stored on the machine but forensic experts who worked through 2,000 pages of computer code deciphered fragments of what was said, including Mahmood making a reference to Wootton Bassett and then adding: ‘If it comes down to it, it’s that or even just to deal with a few MI5 MI6 heads.’

Dart, who changed his name to Salahuddin al-Britani, became involved in extremism after moving from his home town Weymouth to east London and fraternising with radical preacher Anjem Choudary.

Dart was sentenced alongside Jahangir Alom, 26, a former Met police community support officer, and unemployed Imran Mahmood, 22.

Mahmood, caught bringing two rucksacks with traces of explosives on them back from Pakistan, was jailed for nine years, nine months.

Alom, who the court heard served in the Territorial Army in G Company of the 7th Battalion the Rifles, was jailed for four years, six months.

He wanted to be sent to Afghanistan so he could launch an inside attack, but was discharged on medical grounds. Police are hunting a fourth suspect thought to have fled to Pakistan.

The trio were captured in a huge surveillance operation by Scotland Yard and MI5. Investigators learned friends Dart and Alom teamed up with Mahmood in a bid to train with Al Qaeda in Pakistan, after a previous trip ended in failure.

Mahmood said he had seen a bomb-making manual.

Mr Justice Simon told the trio they held ‘radical Islamist beliefs and have shown yourselves to be committed to acts of terrorism’.

Mahmood and Dart were both given extended sentences, meaning that they will serve two-thirds of their prison terms rather than half, and they will spend five years on licence.

The judge said that they were all ‘committed fundamentalists’ who would have been prepared to kill.

He told Dart and Mahmood: ‘I’m satisfied to the required criminal standard that neither of you had ruled out an attack in the United Kingdom, and that you, Mahmood, were looking at arming yourself with a bomb.’

Counter-terrorism teams also believed that the pair used the same tactic walking down the street with a mobile phone.

Mr Justice Simon said the men held “˜radical Islamic views”, were “˜dangerous” and could kill.

Choudary, whose groups Islam4UK and Muslims Against Crusades have been banned, launched an extraordinary defence of Dart, saying he was jailed for a “˜thought crime” and had “˜committed no sin and harmed nobody”, adding “˜Jihad training” is a duty for Muslim men.

The cleric appeared with Dart in a BBC film, My Brother The Islamist. In it, Dart said there were “˜many misconceptions about Al Qaeda” and protested at a homecoming for soldiers.

Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stuart Osborne called the case “˜a classic example of how terrorists live in our midst”.

Dart and Mahmood were both born in the UK, while Alom was born in Bangladesh but is a British citizen.

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